


A Little Thief

by habenaria_radiata



Series: Steal Your Heart: Parent Edition [1]
Category: Persona 5, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Established Relationship, Hotsuweek 2018, Humor, M/M, Post-Triangulum Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 01:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14885027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/habenaria_radiata/pseuds/habenaria_radiata
Summary: An ear-splitting wail filtered from the other end of the line. He could hear something that sounded distinctly like a sob even over that god awful pierce of a scream, and his hackles raised like never before. "Hibiki, what's-""Yamato, I found a baby."Hibiki discovers baby Akira in a zipped up duffel bag in an alley. Parenthood ensues.Spoilers for Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker





	A Little Thief

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for my lack of contribution for Hotsuweek day 4, I hope that this can make up for it. There's an extremely adorable AU where Tatsuya and Jun are Akira's parents that I really love, but Akira looks SO much like Hibiki that I haven't been able to get this idea out of my head.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy it! ♥

* * *

   
    Never in all his young life had Yamato Hotsuin ever believed that his single-handed command over the entirety of JP's would come to be so very...mundane. They were a secret government organization. Their sole purpose was to seek out, catalogue, seal, and control eldritch horrors and violent abominations far beyond most people's comprehension. His favorite companion was infamous for guarding the very gates of Hell. He'd orchestrated the demise of monsters so alien, the sounds they'd made weren't even reproducible. He'd brought not one, but _two_ Gods to submission and ground them under heel. He'd wrested the fate of humanity right out of the hands of a being that controlled the very fabric of time and space.  
  
    And now the most exciting thing he had to occupy his time at work was to make increasingly snide comments in the margins of his rookie agents' worthless reports.  
  
    It wasn't regret, necessarily, that seized him in those odd moments, when he'd nestle into the back of his chair and stare down at a stack of paperwork as he realized that his job now amounted to little more than grading homework. He didn't _regret_ saving all of humanity. He didn't regret destroying Canopus, or permanently breaking the Akashic Record, or regressing the world three times. Destroying the Septentriones had been the sole thing he'd trained for all his life, and then the Triangulum, which he'd done with what he would consider frightening aplomb. He did not regret any of that. He did not even regret giving up his meritocracy, the one thing to which he'd devoted the whole of two of his lifetimes.  
  
    But he did regret that his job was so damned boring now. It never used to be that way. Dealing with demons, even at Yamato's level, was dangerous. Losing yourself to hubris could get anyone killed. But there was something to be said for attempting to deal with lesser demons after you'd stood beside your sworn partner and destroyed a God of Gods. Demons somewhat lost their spark after that.  
  
    He was viciously marking through his thirteenth report of the morning when his phone began to buzz near his hand. Briefly, Yamato glanced towards it to see Hibiki's name light up his screen, along with an extremely endearing picture of him with his face mere centimeters from the camera. Yamato was oblivious to the smile hovering over his own mouth as he lifted the phone and swiped his gloved finger across the screen. It did not unlock. He did it again, and again, until he finally tore his glove off with his teeth digging into the stitching over his index finger, and he yanked his bare fingertip over the glass.  
  
    Fucking smart phones. His recruits had all complained endlessly about how stupid they looked trying to use demons with them when he'd started that uneasy transition at Hibiki's behest. It irritated him to agree with them, so Yamato didn't out of pure spite. But this damn phone was really beginning to task him.  
  
    Yamato swiped again to answer the call and put it to his ear. "Hibiki."  
  
    An ear-splitting wail filtered from the other end of the line. He could hear something that sounded distinctly like a sob even over that god awful pierce of a scream, and his hackles raised like never before. "Hibiki, what's-"  
  
    "Yamato, I found a baby," he blurted. His voice sounded like he was choking.  
  
    He sat back harder in his chair and opened his mouth, but no response was forthcoming for several seconds. "Well -- put it back."  
  
    Hibiki sputtered incoherently. Without him actually speaking, Yamato could hear another shattering cry that would seem to indicate that Hibiki had, in fact, found a baby. An extremely loud, extremely unhappy baby. "Wh- I'm not putting him back, Yamato, he was in a freaking bag! I'm taking him home."  
  
    It was at least long enough for Yamato to regain some semblance of control over his mental faculties. His spine went rigid, and he climbed to his feet and made a deeply flustered noise before he could speak again. "Do not bring it to the apartment," he hissed. "It almost certainly needs medical attention. Just- bring it here." Savagely, he squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Alright. He could handle this. This was simply a crisis, and he'd been trained to deal with crises from birth. This was perfectly manageable. "Where are you? I will send a car to you."  
  
    Even as Hibiki was speaking to him to explain that he was at a store trying to buy some sort of baby accoutrements, every fourth word was drowned out by a series of long, progressively louder, deeply internal screaming fits. What the hell was he thinking? How did he even find a baby? Like it was some sort of free pet in a box on the road. Why had he picked it up? Why bring it here? Why didn't he just call the authorities? Surely he could not possibly be intending to keep the thing. It was a goddamned baby. Yamato had refused to even live in anything bigger than a one bedroom just so that none of Hibiki's idiot friends ever labored under the delusion that they were welcome to stay in their space over night for any reason whatsoever.  
  
    And it wouldn't stop crying. Yamato could barely hear Hibiki at all over the baby's pitiful squalling. They were really in a store? He could only imagine the looks Hibiki was getting. When they finally hung up, Yamato collapsed into his chair and did little more than stare at the shiny surface of his own mahogany desk.  
  
    Hibiki was bringing a baby to him. An abandoned, screaming baby he'd found in a bag. Yamato had never even seen a baby in person throughout his entire life. Either of them. Which, frankly, had suited him just fine. They were bald and crinkly, they smelled like spoiled milk, they wriggled like fat worms and made messes of everything and screamed like they were dying at the slightest suggestion that someone might not be paying attention to them. He assumed, anyway. He'd heard plenty of horror stories and, given his intense lack of interest in breeding, he was perfectly happy to take that as validation of all his extremely uncharitable opinions of infants and their ilk.  
  
    Yamato permitted himself only a single minute to wallow in self-pity before he forcibly pulled himself together, and he stood from his chair and marched to the infirmary. Yanagiya was the only personnel there, scribbling something on a clipboard. Inventory, most likely. She glanced up as he stepped into the wing and smiled for him. "Good morning, Chief."  
  
    He could not find it within himself to even attempt making empty pleasantries. Or smiling back at her, for that matter, but that was entirely within character for him. She might have more cause for concern if he actually had. "Hibiki found a baby," he said. His voice was impressively level for how badly he wanted to snarl like a caged lion. Yanagiya stared at him.  
  
    "Like...on the side of the road?"  
  
    "In a bag."  
  
    Yanagiya blinked. Her face was about as blank as he felt his own likely was. "...On the side of the road?"  
  
    He glowered at her and pulled his arms into a tight cross over his chest. "Does it matter?"  
  
    She lifted her shoulders and tilted her head a bit. "I suppose it doesn't, no, but I admit the context is a little...well. Why is he bringing the baby here?"  
  
    A pinched sort of sigh filtered out of him. "You will have to ask him that. Are you prepared to examine an infant?"  
  
    Yanagiya frowned, a mild curl of her lips that disappeared when she brought her pen up to her mouth and nibbled at the end of it. "I'm not sure we have the proper equipment for that, but I'll do my best." It was about as diplomatic a way he could think of to point out that JP's wasn't equipped for handling infants and _wasn't designed to be_. He wanted to shake Hibiki and ask why in the name of all things both holy and unholy was he doing this to him?!  
  
    Unfortunately for his nerves, which were more tightly wound than a clockwork virgin, he was not permitted the opportunity to shake anyone or anything. When Hibiki finally appeared in the entryway, his face was flushed, and his eyes were red and wet beneath the lights, and the baby was still raising hell and flailing in his arms. Yanagiya made it to him first. She took the infant from him smoothly, and the instant his arms were free, Hibiki turned and crumpled into Yamato's chest.  
  
    "...Are you alright?" He dropped his bare hand to the top of Hibiki's head, frowning deeply there against his forehead. Hibiki sniffed, but he did offer a nod in return.  
  
    "Hibiki, what do you have there?" Yanagiya cradled the baby in one arm and draped a clean towel over one of the hospital beds before she set it down on top of it. Its awful crying was even worse in person. Yamato cringed sharply as it screamed at the very top of its lungs. As annoyed as he was about it, he couldn't exactly fault it for screaming when it was likely starving to death.  
  
    "Uhm-" Hibiki broke away from Yamato's grip and thrust out his arms. Plastic bags dangled from one of them, and a filthy duffel bag from the other. "I didn't know what to get, so I just bought formula and a pacifier and some diapers. And a bottle." He handed them off to Yanagiya, but Yamato found himself still squinting at the bag.  
  
    "Did you bring the bag you found it in?"  
  
    Immediately, Hibiki flushed harder and dropped his head, then tossed it onto the ground. "Well! I didn't know if it was important! I didn't know what to do, Yamato, it's not like I ever found an abandoned baby before! What would you have done?!"  
  
    Yamato pinched the bridge of his nose again and glared at him. "Called the authorities," he ground out.  
  
    A look of absolute betrayal crossed Hibiki's face. "You _are_ the authorities!" He huffed at him loudly, then shook his head and stomped over to where Yanagiya was preparing some of the formula. The instant she had it bottled up and put the nipple to the baby's mouth, the infirmary went blissfully silent. Some of the tension pulled taut between Yamato's shoulders eased the slightest bit.  
  
    Hibiki was ignoring him, though. He hesitated before he gently took the bottle from Yanagiya and held it upright, peering down at the baby. It had been a long time since Yamato had seen him so upset. "How old do you think he is, Otome?"  
  
    "I'm not sure. He's pretty small. I'll do my best to give him a proper checkup and let you know from there. He's suffering from some pretty obvious symptoms of neglect." She frowned and moved away from them, fetching a fresh chart while Hibiki was left to feed the starving baby. The look on his face made Yamato's stomach tighten. Oh god. He knew that look.  
  
    That was the face of a man who wasn't going to let him go home tonight without a fucking baby.  
  
    "Hibiki," he bit out, his tone low and icy.  
  
    "What?"  
  
    The complete and utter lack of contrition in Hibiki's voice annoyed him. "What are you doing?" Yamato asked slowly, careful to keep his voice as neutral as possible.  
  
    When Hibiki frowned back at him and wrinkled his nose, all sense of neutrality jumped ship. "I'm feeding him and being nice to him!"  
  
    "Why do you not allow Yanagiya to do it?" he snapped before he could stop himself. "Just let her examine the child so that we can have it delivered to a proper caretaker."  
  
    "What-" Hibiki scowled back at him and twisted to face him, but before he could speak, another earbleeding screech sounded from the baby. Hibiki rushed to right the bottle back and soothe it, passing his free hand over the baby's tiny black curls. Truth be told, it bothered Yamato intensely how similar the infant looked to Hibiki. "Yamato, why are you in such a rush to get rid of him? He's traumatized. Can't we just take him in for a few nights?"  
  
    " _Hibiki_."  
  
    By then, Yanagiya intervened, sliding over to the bed to take the bottle from Hibiki. "Why don't you let me finish up, okay? I still need to examine him, and it...sounds like you two have a few things to discuss." It was as polite as she could be, but she was still shooing them out of Yamato's own infirmary, and it only infuriated him all the more.  
  
    Without another word, he whirled away from them both, his jacket flickering behind him as Hibiki scrambled to follow. "Yamato-"  
  
    He could not bring himself to speak until they were safely shut away in his office. His throat felt like it was bulging with his desire to scream. The instant the door was shut, Yamato spun on the heel of his boot and clawed at the air. "Have you lost your mind? We are not equipped to take care of a child."  
  
    "But- it's only for a few nights-"  
  
    Yamato cut him off with a savage flick of his hand. "Do not insult me," he spit. "It will not be for _a few nights_. Are you listening to yourself? You are already attached. Hibiki, this is not a lost puppy, this is a human child. You want to upend our entire life for a child someone abandoned."  
  
    He could already see the tears building in Hibiki's eyes, and he hated how effectively that nagged at him. He had no desire to hurt Hibiki, emotionally or otherwise, but this -- did he not understand what he was asking?  
  
    Yamato _liked_ their life together. He liked that his only responsibilities were to JP's and to Hibiki's happiness. He liked being able to go home and work in peace and leave to travel whenever he felt like it. He liked having sex with Hibiki whenever they wanted. And Hibiki was so eager to give it all up and take in some stray? Forever? He wanted Yamato to be responsible for shaping another human being? How could he ask that of him?  
  
    Hibiki sniffed hard and fast. He was obviously trying to keep from crying, but his attempt was for naught. The tears began to drip down his cheeks as he shook his head. "God, Yamato, I'm not asking you to sign adoption papers, I just-"  
  
    He balled his fists hard and resisted every compulsion to shake Hibiki as he'd so wanted. "You are _nineteen years old_. You are practically a child yourself. This is not your responsibility."  
  
    He had said exactly the wrong thing. Hibiki stared at him, his blue eyes wide and glassy and horribly wounded. Then he sobbed so hard his voice cracked, and the tears began to roll in full force. "Yes, he _is_! He is my responsibility because I'm the only one who would help him!" His thin shoulders shook as he jerked his arms up to wipe the tears away as fast as they could fall. "Everyone else just walked by... No one else stopped. No one even looked in the alley. Just me, and I thought maybe someone needed help, but he was just in that fucking bag all by himself crying and starving to death and no one else even cared."  
  
    Yamato's voice had deserted him. His throat felt too hot and too tight to speak as he watched the only person he'd ever loved try to contain his own hysterical tears. Deep down, so deep down he wouldn't dare admit it aloud, he felt some bitter sense of self-righteousness. He had been right. He _was_ right. Humans had been garbage then and they're still garbage now, after Yamato had sacrificed everything to make a world free of divine corruption.  
  
    He refused to give in to the base desire to say 'I told you so'. Not when his partner was cut open and raw and in more emotional pain than Yamato had ever seen him. Hibiki took a deep breath and peered up at him, beseeching, tears still clinging to his eyelashes. "Please, Yamato," he begged. "Please just let me have the night. Please. He's a baby and he didn't ask to be born and he didn't do anything to deserve being thrown away like trash. He doesn't deserve to feel unwanted. God, I kept thinking about what would have happened if he'd been asleep and no one heard him or knew he was there and someone picked him up and threw him away. He's- he's just a baby and he deserves to spend at least one night with someone who _wants_ to take care of him."  
  
    What could he possibly say to that? Hibiki had always been a bleeding heart. Yamato loved him because his big, soft heart made everyone around him better than they were before they met him. Of course he would be this distraught over an infant no one had wanted and abandoned to die. Of course he would feel responsible when he was the only one with the courage to intervene.  
  
    People often called him a monster, but even Yamato Hotsuin was not so callous as to look into that face and tell Hibiki to abandon this little boy a second time.  
  
    But he didn't have to fucking like the alternative.  
  
    Bitterness and unhappiness and fear and uncertainty swirled like poison in his gut. "Fine," he spat. "But I am not getting up when it cries. Three days."  
  
    For as vile as his tone was, Hibiki didn't seem to notice. He lit up like the sun and grabbed onto him hard, pressing a firm kiss to Yamato's mouth. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I won't make you get up, I swear."  
  
    Yamato couldn't bring himself to speak again. His jaw was close to shattering as he held it shut and jerked his head. Only when he'd composed himself could he find his voice again. "Go home. You need to rest. Take the child with you."  
  
    Hibiki kissed him again and wiped his face on the sleeve of his hoodie. "Okay. I'll see you at home. I love you."  
  
    He dashed out of the office, leaving Yamato to move stiffly towards his chair and sink down into it. He had just agreed to that. He had just allowed an infant into their home.  
  
    He felt the bizarre urge to laugh at himself as his heart throbbed in his throat.  
  
    Three days his ass.  
  
    They had a baby.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Parkour](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16015202) by [cinereous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinereous/pseuds/cinereous)




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